# board

Pronunciation: US say "BORD" /bɔɹd/; UK say "BAWD" /bɔːd/

## Noun

1. A group of people who manage or govern an organization or area, such as a board of directors or a provincial council.
   - Simple: A group of people who run a company, organization, or area and make its main decisions.
   - _The board approved the merger after a long debate._
   - _Shareholders elected three new members to the board._
2. A relatively long, wide, thin piece of material, usually wood, often used in construction or furniture-making.
   - Simple: A long, flat, thin piece of wood, often used to build things or make furniture.
   - _The carpenter cut a board to fit the doorway._
   - _We nailed each board firmly to the wooden frame._
3. Short for blackboard and similar words: a whiteboard, chessboard, surfboard, circuit board, bulletin board or online message board, when context makes clear which. — Short for blackboard, whiteboard, chessboard, surfboard, circuit board, message board (on the Internet), bulletin board, etc.
   - Simple: Short for blackboard and similar words: a whiteboard, surfboard, bulletin board or the like, when it is clear which.
   - _She copied the diagram from the board into her notebook._
   - _The surfers waxed every board before paddling out._
5. The flat surface or area on which a board, card, or tabletop game is played.
   - Simple: The flat surface or area where pieces or cards are put to play a game.
   - _Players take turns moving their tokens around the board._
   - _He folded the board and packed the game back into its box._
7. Meals supplied on a regular basis to someone staying in lodgings, or the amount charged for them.
   - Simple: The regular meals you get where you stay, or what you pay for them.
   - _Tuition does not include room and board at this school._
   - _Students living with the family paid a little extra for board, which meant a hot breakfast and dinner every day._
8. Thick, stiff paper resembling pasteboard, used to make book covers and similar items.
   - Simple: Thick, stiff paper used for things like book covers.
   - _Restorers replaced the crumbling board beneath the leather spine._
   - _The portfolio was backed with heavy board to keep the prints flat._
9. In basketball, a rebound: the ball recovered after a missed shot. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: In basketball, a rebound: getting the ball after a missed shot.
   - _The forward crashed the boards hard on every possession._
   - _One late board kept their comeback alive._
11. A panel containing electrical switches and other controls, used to manage lights, sound, telephone connections, and the like.
   - Simple: A panel with switches and controls used to run lights, sound, or phone connections.
   - _The lighting board controls every spotlight in the theater._
   - _An operator at the board routed calls across the whole town._
12. The barrier that encloses the ice surface of a hockey rink on all sides.
   - Simple: The wall that goes around the edge of an ice hockey rink.
   - _A clean hit sent him into the boards, and the crowd behind the glass roared its approval._
   - _He was checked hard into the boards in the second period and left the game with a sore shoulder._
13. A theater's stage, and by extension a career acting in plays; used in the plural form the boards.
   - Simple: The stage in a theater, or the job of acting in plays. People say the boards.
   - _The veteran actor returned to the boards for a limited run on Broadway._
   - _She spent a decade treading the boards before landing her first TV role._

## Verb

4. To get onto a ship, aircraft, train, or other vehicle, including forcing a way onto a ship to attack or capture it.
   - Simple: To get onto a ship, plane, train, or bus, or to climb onto a ship to attack it.
   - _Travelers may now board the aircraft through gate twelve._
   - _She boarded the ferry with her bicycle and a heavy backpack._
6. To live and take meals in someone's home for payment, or to give someone meals and lodging for payment.
   - Simple: To pay to live and eat in someone's home, or to let someone do this in yours for money.
   - _During his apprenticeship he boarded with a blacksmith's family._
   - _Workers often board near the mill rather than commute each day._
10. To cover something with boards or boarding.
   - Simple: To cover something with wooden boards.
   - _The abandoned factory had been boarded over years ago, and the plywood on its windows was now covered in graffiti._
   - _Before the hurricane arrived, neighbors helped each other board their windows with sheets of plywood._
14. To strike someone with a wooden board or plank.
   - Simple: To hit someone with a piece of wood.
18. To provide lodging and food for someone else's pet or other animal, as a kennel or stable does, usually in exchange for payment.
   - Simple: To keep and feed another person's pet or animal, at a place like a kennel or stable, usually for money.
   - _Many kennels board dogs over the holidays, so it pays to book a space early._
   - _Her horse is boarded at a stable a few miles outside town, where the staff feed him and turn him out each day._

## Noun

15. Either side of a ship's hull. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: The side of a ship or boat.
16. A long, narrow table, such as those used in a medieval dining hall. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: A long, narrow table, like the ones used in dining halls long ago.

## Verb

17. To approach someone; to make advances toward or accost a person. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: To go up to someone and speak to them, often to make advances.

## Other meanings

- (verb) To put text or figures up on a board, typically a blackboard or whiteboard, for others to read.
- (noun) A level or stage in a game that has a particular two-dimensional layout.
- (noun) In bridge, a container holding a pre-dealt set of cards, allowing several groups of players to play the identical hands.
- (noun) The distance a sailing vessel covers on a single tack while working to windward.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–8, 10–18** — From Middle English bord, from Old English bord, going back to Proto-Germanic *burdą ("board, plank, table"), whose deeper origin is uncertain. The senses "food" and "council" developed by metonymy from the "table" sense.
**Meaning 9** — From backboard.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/board (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).